Information & Ethics committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for inviting me. Of course, if committee members and you feel that my presentation is too long, I am very flexible and can stop at any time to answer any questions you may have. Thank you again for this opportunity to appear before you to discuss this very important subject of open government.

Information & Ethics committee  Mr. Chairman, I must say that I did look at the amount of money for the 24 institutions that have been subject to the report cards this year. I looked at their main estimates and how much money they lapsed last year. They all have lapsed significant amounts of money, in the range of millions of dollars.

Information & Ethics committee  I will ask Josée.

Information & Ethics committee  These are the responses of the institutions; it's not just the Privy Council Office. Each institution has its own response to the recommendations. We print them in their entirety for transparency purposes. They're telling us that they're committed to it, and it's in writing, so that's their commitment to this committee as well.

Information & Ethics committee  Delegation of authority is really the prerogative of each institution. As I said before, our preference, our experience, basically indicates that the best-performing institutions have the full delegation to the coordinator or the director of access to information. Our concern is whether it adds additional delays or whether it results in less disclosure.

Information & Ethics committee  You know, I'm satisfied that they are really working to deal with their situation, their backlog and their number of requests. They do have quite a lot of staffing issues at the Privy Council Office. In fact, you will find that at the institutions where they have a large backlog or a large consultation workload, it's difficult to keep staff.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes.

Information & Ethics committee  Perhaps I can ask Josée to explain this in more detail.

Information & Ethics committee  Mr. Chair, I have not made any comments related to the culture of the public service during this process of report cards. When I was asked about this in the press conference, I stated that I would like to see the same kind of initiative as that taken by president Obama in the US.

Information & Ethics committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. That is an excellent question. The Department of Foreign Affairs definitely has to improve. That has a systemic impact. I would also say that the issue of human resources in the institutions has to be dealt with. These are the two very major priorities I would bring to the attention of your committee.

Information & Ethics committee  With your permission, Mr. Chair, I would like to answer that question the next time I appear before the committee, in two weeks. I would like to be better prepared. The issue is complex. I would like to be able to provide a comprehensive answer. What is being done in the US is very extensive.

Information & Ethics committee  As far as cabinet confidences are concerned, it is in the Act. According to the policy of the Treasury Board Secretariat, consultation is compulsory about cabinet confidences before disclosing the contents of the documents. I believe they should be exempted instead of excluded, which would give me a right of review.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes. During the report cards process, the president agreed that it was best if the delegation of authority was put further down into the organization.

Information & Ethics committee  Mr. Chairman, I'm not sure how many more that would be. We would have to see. In 2006 the Federal Accountability Act added 69 institutions. We had a big jump in complaints the first year, with in excess of 500. In the second year there were a little over 200. But things seem to be tempering down this year to more normal levels in terms of complaints.